It isn’t really explained how Lin and Rika became friends. It seems like they became acquainted through the Maid and Butler Cafe and from Rika being Ikki’s friend. At any rate, she’s quite friendly here and has a hilariously normal life despite her personality. They end up talking about Ikki and Ukyo in the girls party.

In the New World, Lin has lost her memories and the only thing she remembers is promising someone to see the fireflies again. She is childhood friend with Shin and Toma, and works at the Maid and Butler Cafe with her four co-workers; Ikki, Kent, Mine, and Sawa. Ukyo, who is a known photographer, enters the shop one day and shows everyone the pictures he took of fireflies.

Waka, the owner of the Maid and Butler Cafe, decides to make this a company trip and everyone ends up having to buy a yukata for themselves. Unfortunately, on the night of the trip, they cannot seem to find any fireflies and so everyone splits up to either hang out or look for them together.

Lin decides to look for the three girls, specifically Rika, who greets Lin calmly when she sees her come over. She comments on what a shame it is tonight because she knows that Lin wanted to see the fireflies. She tries to cheer her up by telling her that there will always be another opportunity and she shouldn’t slump dejectedly like that. On a side note, she is surprised by the breeding activities of the fireflies this year. At least they aren’t harbingers of misfortune.

Orion thinks that would be for the best but he does wonder what is with this abnormal weather; there seems to be a reason for it. IF YOU GUYS ARE WONDERING TOO IT’S THE WHOLE “GOING TO PARALLEL UNIVERSES/BACK IN TIME THING” WITH NIEL AND ORION. At any rate, Rika has something she wishes to discuss with Lin. Orion is surprised to hear that coming from Rika and wonders what it is.

Rika admits that she wished to ask this in a more quiet place or teahouse where they could drink tea but… this is a good opportunity and so she’ll speak of it now, although she would like it if Lin joined her for tea together on another time. She would also like their conversation to be a secret from Ikki. Rika confesses to Lin that, the previous day, she was propositioned by another man. Orion gapes at that.

She was so surprised that she didn’t give an answer and just returned home. She should have rejected him properly since she’s the president of the fan club, but what should she say in a situation like this? She doesn’t have any experience in the romance department and so she doesn’t know what to do. Orion is also stumped as to how to respond… and that there is someone out there interested in Rika. HEY ORION THAT’S RUDE.

Rika informs Lin that the other man is a working adult who is 5 years older than her. She met him in the morning when she overslept and ran out the door with a piece of bread in her mouth and then bumped into him while turning a corner. THAT’S… JUST LIKE A SHOUJO MANGA. When she fell onto her backside, she apologized immediately and then they separated. But when she went to her university she was terribly surprised to find that the guest lecturer was him.

Furthermore, when she opened her bag she realized that it wasn’t her bag. She accidentally took his bag instead. She didn’t exchange the bag there though and instead waited for the lecture to be over before she went to the front of the lecture hall and apologized again for the morning incident. And then when they finally met the other person said that this must be fate. Rika desperately asks Lin that such a thing couldn’t happen, right?

Orion asks loudly if this is a shoujo manga from a previous generation!? What kind of life does Rika have? Does someone actually dash out the door with a piece of bread in their mouth!? Just imagining it is making his brain hurt. L M F A O I LOVE ORION SO MUCH. He finds it interesting but he also can’t accept it!

Rika declares to Lin that she is devoted to Ikki and she can’t think of going out with another person. But she doesn’t know how to convey that. Orion tells Lin to hold on because he can’t even grasp the image right now, much less give advice to Rika. He tries to come up with something but ends up asking Lin what she wants to do. Lin advises Rika to just tell the man frankly and Rika realizes that she has a point and she couldn’t do anything less than that.

She understands and that is what she’ll do but… Rika averts her eyes with a blush before asking if Lin could accompany her when she does it. She feels terrified doing it alone… Orion hesitantly tries to confirm that this is Rika, right? They haven’t met her younger twin or anything, right?!

Their conversation is interrupted by Sawa who asks what the two of them are doing. Mine also appears beside Sawa and explains that they grew tired of looking down below the bridge and she wants to join the conversation. Rika realizes that Mine has been watching the men and asks her what they’re doing. Sawa explains that they’re below the bridge and creating a dam out of stones. Apparently, the boys grew really excited at the sight of looking at the river.

Mine rolls her eyes and wonders why the boys enjoy playing in the river so much; they’re like children. Rika is alarmed at that and thinks that they’ll trouble other people if left alone to their own devices like that. She declares that they have to be told to clean up properly before they leave. Mine reassures her that it’s fine and it’s like children who create hidden forts on the bank, of which there are plenty. There’s no problem if another one is added.

Sawa winces and points out that, going with the conversation, there’s a bit of a difference since those hidden forts are created by elementary school students. Mine realizes that she’s right and then she wonders what they’re going to do with their men. Sawa sighs and thinks that there are a lot of adults who revert back to their child’s mind, huh. At any rate, she asks Rika and Lin what the two of them were talking about.

Rika stutters out quickly that it was nothing important. She gives a strained laugh before explaining that she was just inviting Lin to come with her to a teahouse or restaurant. A new shop opened recently and she wouldn’t mind them joining her next week. Sawa excitedly agrees to go because she’s curious about Rika’s recommendation.

Mine hums in thought but thinks that it wouldn’t be so bad to go out with girls only for once. Rika smiles and schedules a girls party for next week then. She also mutters under her breath that she needs to settle her issue before then. Sawa hears the muttering and asks Rika if something is the matter? Rika blurts out that it’s nothing and laughs highly.

*** GIRLS PARTY ***

Orion and Lin arrive at the new restaurant and he notes that this must be where the girls party is being held. He looks around for the girls but Lin is greeted by Rika first. Orion shouts out that he found Rika! She tells Lin that the other two just arrived as well. Mine and Sawa greet her cheerily but Mine corrects Sawa since she greeted Lin with “good morning” when it’s already 2PM.

Sawa laughs sheepishly and confesses that she woke up at 1PM and so “good morning” just came out naturally. Rika laughingly comments on how she slept a lot. Sawa tells them that she was invited by a girl from the tennis circle to a mixer and by the time she got home it was very late. She’s super tired and it was really boring.

Rika is intrigued upon hearing that Sawa is in the tennis circle and tells her that Ikki has an interest in tennis. Sawa is surprised to hear that he plays tennis but then she tells Rika that she’s a member but she rarely participates; she finds work to be busy and fun. Mine agrees with her and that their current job is fun. Rika points out that Mine is preparing to take her entrance exams though, right? She can’t neglect those.

Mine reassures her that it’s fine and her grades aren’t bad. Sawa recalls that Ukyo said something similar like Rika to Mine as well. Rika asks for an elaboration and so Sawa repeats that Ukyo told Mine to study hard or else she’ll end up like him. Rika hesitantly notes that his warning is hard to comment on or respond to. Mine winces and agrees that it seems like Ukyo has terrible marks.

Sawa thinks it’s not that bad since he did have good enough grades to become a photographer. Orion notes that this conversation is troubling for Mine, but then he remembers the point of this and suggests for Lin to gather some information before the actual girls party starts. He thinks she should ask about Ikki and Ukyo since they popped up in the conversation just a while ago. She can just nonchalantly ask about what kind of person Ikki is and let the conversation flow from there. Which one will she ask about?

ASK ABOUT UKYO. Rika is startled to hear that question while Sawa points out that it’s a little… impossible. Mine agrees because even though Ukyo is a regular customer no one really knows any details… but then Rika interrupts and says that she knows. Sawa’s mouth drops open in surprise as Rika pulls out an investigative report on him. Sawa repeats the words “investigative report” in alarm.

Rika explains that she had this report down as a precaution for Ikki since Ukyo is so suspicious and he’s around Ikki quite often. She had the fan club combine all their efforts to gather date for this investigative report. Mine hesitantly asks how they managed that. Rika explains calmly that it actually wasn’t that difficult; they posed as street questionnaires and just had him fill out a questionnaire sheet.

Sawa starts to nod understandingly before she pauses and yelps out that normal people wouldn’t go that far! Rika smiles widely and tells her that Ukyo willingly did it. Mine asks what the result was. Rika pauses here though uncomfortably and Sawa prompts her to continue. Apparently, they had a bit of a miss and actually got him to fill it out twice, and on the second time the writing was different. Sawa asks if he wrote lies then.

Rika can’t say… because there are similarities still. Mine thinks he’s an honest person… but she does point out that normally a person would say they already filled out the questionnaire if they did it before. Rika agrees and she actually thinks it’s a bit of a disappointment that he cooperated so willingly. Anyway, she’ll read the answers out. Ukyo’s birth date is March 3 and he’s a Pisces with the blood type O. He’s 185 cm and body weight is unknown.

During school, his clubs consisted of: soccer, lacrosse, debate, kabaddi, dance, American football, art, cheerleading, triathlon, hula dance, and horse riding. There are also 15 other things. HOLY CRAP… I WISH MY SCHOOL HAD SOME OF THOSE CLUBS. Sawa blurts out that there’s way too much. Rika notes that he seems to have changed schools and so that’s why his clubs changed so much; he just joined whatever he was invited into.

Mine points out that the majority of his clubs are girl sports. Rika tells them that this seems to be something the questionnaire people asked as well… and the answer was that, on top of having long hair, he used to be thin and was mistaken as an Oriental girl and would forcefully be asked to join these clubs. He was immediately found out in the cheer leading club though. He expressed his surprise on how lacrosse seemed to be a club filled with a lot of girls.

Sawa thinks he’s a person with a lot of problems. Mine expresses skepticism at him being in the debate club because he’s always overseas… yet he doesn’t speak another language. Sawa doesn’t get it either. Anyway, Rika tells them that the rest of these answers differ between the two forms he filled out. First, for his favorite food he said that his sense of taste was awful and so he isn’t picky. On his second form, he wrote that his favorite food was jelly and purin.

The same goes for his least favorite food. On the first form, he says that he’s not picky but on the second form he says raw egg, burdock, and edible seaweed (nori). Sawa points out that this is representative of an overseas person who dislikes those from their western-styled food. Mine asks if that is true and so Sawa explains that raw eggs aren’t really eaten in their culture and burdock is in Japan only.

Rika recalls that edible seaweed is often complained about looking like paper. Mine tilts her head and thinks that’s a shame since it’s delicious. Anyway, on his hobbies he first wrote practicing braiding, collecting weird underwear patterns, and talking to people. Sawa repeats the word “underwear” in a faint voice. Mine points out that normally someone wouldn’t write that on a questionnaire. I CAN’T BREATHE.

On the second form, he wrote cleaning, washing, and talking to people. Sawa is surprised to see that both have “talking to people”. Mine wonders why he wrote two different ones though. Rika informs them that he also filled out his favorite animal but both forms said that they liked any kind, but were hated. Sawa doesn’t know what to say to that while Mine wonders why that is… perhaps because he’s not normal? S O BS IS IT BECAUSE HE’S AN IRREGULARITY?

Rika doesn’t know the answer to that but she saw him as a suspicious person so she can’t say anything. Sawa thinks he’s a person no one understands. Mine averts her eyes and mumbles that he has a nice face though. Orion thinks that this is the best they’re going to get. They learned quite a bit though and she should write it on a memo later so that they don’t forget. Now they can enjoy the rest of the girls party!

UKYO IS 24 YEARS OLD AND HILARIOUSLY HIS PROFILE HAS A “FRONT” AND “BACK” ANSWERS TO IT… FOR WHITE AND BLACK UKYO I GUESS.

ASK ABOUT IKKI. Rika tells her that she can say countless of things about Ikki but what does Lin want to know? Mine gets all excited upon hearing that they’re talking about Ikki, in that case she wants to know about his birth date, height, blood type, and hobbies! Sawa is amused at how much Mine seems to like Ikki. Mine blurts out that he’s very handsome, isn’t he?! Although, all the men in their teahouse are attractive.

Rika laughs at their talk before saying that it’s best to be honest. She’ll answer Mine’s request now though. Ikki’s birth date is June 1 and he’s a Gemini with the blood type A. He’s also 182 cm. She goes on to say that he has two parents and a younger sister that is two years younger than him, but they don’t talk a lot. WHAT? HE HAS A SISTER?!?! I DIDN’T KNOW! He used to be in the tennis club but, at that time, it was a mixed practice club and it was problematic because he was so popular.

His hobbies include billiards, darts, and table tennis. This is also something she remembered spontaneously while he was with girls who wanted to be his girlfriend… but he practiced those hobbies secretly in order to get good at them. He also likes being able to move his body without having to say anything and so he especially likes billiards. For competitive games he… doesn’t really have anyone to play against.

Rika winces and states that her heart hurts at that. But lately he has become passionate about solving the puzzles Kent makes. His favorite foods are things like agedashi tofu or home cooked food. His least favorite is fatty meat. She thinks his favorite animal is the hamster because, on a previous day, one of the fan club members brought their hamster along in a cage and Ikki spent the entire time staring at it. THAT’S… KIND OF ADORABLE? AHHH…

He also commented on how adorable it was running on its wheel. Rika thinks this is the bare minimum of what they need to know about Ikki. Sawa can’t believe that this is the bare minimum while Mine is impressed by how amazing Rika is. She has been with Ikki for a long time, right? Rika laughs cheerily and thanks them for their compliments. Orion doesn’t really know where to start commenting on this but he thinks this is as expected of Rika.

Anyway, it seems like this is the best they’re going to get. They learned quite a bit and she should write it on a memo later as to not forget. For now, they can enjoy the rest of the girls party leisurely!

IKK IS 22 YEARS OLD (OH NO, I’M THE SAME AGE NOW!) AND HIS SISTER IS 19 YEARS OLD. THEY FORGOT TO MENTION THAT HE’S CURRENTLY IN THE BILLIARD CLUB AND THAT HE ESPECIALLY LIKES AGEDASHI TOFU. HIS FAVORITE ANIMAL BEING A HAMSTER IS JUST AN ASSUMPTION ON RIKA’S PART.